Tom's Blog

Today I tried to install some new browser extensions into the latest Firefox 0.9.3 browser and couldn't figure out why nothing was happening. I first tried opening the XPI file directly from the Mozilla Update extensions page. I clicked on one of the extensions I wanted (Adblock, highly recommended), and clicked the "Install Now" link. Nothing happened, like it wasn't recognizing my click.

Next attempt: Download the XPI file, and try to install it that way. I saved the adblock-0.5-dev.xpi file to my disk, then went into Firefox's File / Open File... menu to open it. Nothing happened. It was like Firefox was just going to ignore the fact that I asked it to open the file.

Next attempt: Drag the XPI file from the folder into Firefox and have it open the file that way. Still, nothing happened.

I went to the Tools / Extensions menu item to see if something was stopping me from installing extensions, an error message, something. No joy.

I searched around the Internet looking for people with similar problems. I checked out the Firefox help on Firefox forum. Nothing pointed me in the right direction.

Finally, I tried hunting around in all my Tools / Options... settings to see if something there would help me out. Hmm. Tools / Options / Advanced / Software Updates / Allow web sites to install software. There it was. I had, many months ago, unchecked this box for security reasons when I first installed my browser. Even though I was installing the XPI file locally and not from a web site, that security option was stopping the extension from being installed (which is a good thing).

Summary: User error. Firefox was doing exactly what I had told it to do. While I'm suitably chagrined, it sure would have been nice if Firefox would have told me what I was doing wrong rather than ignore my attempts to install the XPI files. How about an error dialog, "Your security settings prohibit installation of browser extensions."

Next stop: A check of the bugzilla site to see if this feature is on the to-do list.

Update: Bugzilla has this problem logged as Bug 248486.

Two duplicate bug reports were filed by others similarly frustrated. It looks like someone wrote a patch for it, so maybe the fix is in the nightly builds even now. But I'll wait until Firefox 1.0 comes out to enjoy the fix.


Saturday August 21, 2004 Permalink Comments [1]